Taliban Officials Majored At Iran’s Al-Mustafa University
The dean of Iran’s Al-Mustafa International University says some of the officials of the new government of Afghanistan have studied at the institution.
The dean of Iran’s Al-Mustafa International University says some of the officials of the new government of Afghanistan have studied at the institution.
The university, which is the Islamic Propaganda Bureau of the Qom Seminary, is a state-funded university-style Shia seminary with branches in almost 60 countries.
In an interview, Ali Abbasi said people of 83 nationalities are studying at the institution while in its Kabul branch, more than 50 percent of scholars are Tajiks and Sunnis.
It is not clear exactly what is being taught at the Kabul branch after the Taliban takeover, but the branch’s website reported almost 4,500 scholars were studying there until 2019.
Abbasi did not explain how people who were trained in this Shiite complex took positions at the Sunni government of the extremist Taliban.
The Al-Mustafa University pays for hundreds of foreign students from China to Africa and Latin America who come to study and then return to spread Iranian Shiite teachings in their countries.
Observers say Al-Mustafa has become Iran's chief tool for promoting Shi'ism abroad. The university received around $80 million in the 2020-2021 Iranian budget, making it more important than ever. It is believed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office and businesses under his control provide additional funding to Al-Mustafa.
In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on the massive university network, alleging that it recruited Afghan and Pakistani students to fight in Syria.
The statement said, "The policy of a unilateral tendency favoring the East and radical opposition to the West as well as denial of the benefits of balanced relations with world powers have irreparably damaged Iran's interests."
This statement was issued following Russia's support for the claim by United Arab Emirates over the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb. The UAE wishes to refer the case to the International Court of Justice. Tehran has dismissed Moscow's stance as "undermining Iran's territorial integrity" and some Friday Prayer Imams in Iran have called for an apology by Russia.
The former diplomats warned that absolute reliance on friendly ties with some countries (Russia and China) will naturally make them believe that they can do anything to Iran.
A day earlier, some websites in Tehran reported on a speech July 12 by former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had argued along the same lines, saying that a perpetual anti-West policy is harmful to national interests.
They said that such a policy will impose a heavy cost on the country, adding that a balanced foreign policy and a realistic approach to international relations, as well as avoiding policies that negatively affect Iran's national interests can be the driving force of an intelligent foreign policy in the current situation.
The statement said Iran owes its territorial integrity to the endeavors of its citizens, and the government is committed by law to defend the country's territorial integrity. It further noted that this was not the first time Russia undermined Iran's interests.
The former diplomats added that dignified diplomacy requires prevention of such unfriendly stances in any way possible. They pointed out that although Iran attaches priority to its international relations and particularly to its ties with Russia, nonetheless, the country's national interests and territorial integrity come over and above everything else. The statement stressed that there is no room for any compromise on the country's national interests.
The senior diplomats further observed: "We believe that the reason for imposing this unacceptable behavior by others and ignoring the Islamic Republic's status and its national interests is that Iran has stopped abiding by its principle of "neither East, nor West" which was its motto after the 1979 revolution.
The lack of a balanced foreign policy will encourage opportunist states to take advantage of their relations with Iran and using it solely to serve their own interests, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the print media in Tehran highlighted the statement on Sunday. Etemad Online quoted academic Ali Asghar Zargar as warning that "Russians can easily play with Iran's card and gamble on Tehran's interests, adding that Iran must be alert about such eventualities and not be content simply by demanding apologies from China and Russia when they undermine its interests.
On the same day, Khabar Online carried a report in which it asked: "Why Russia and China often surprise Iran? Can we expect anything more than this from unilateral relations?" The website added that the controversy over Russia's behavior less than six months after China had adopted a similar position on the issue of the three islands, was an outcome of Iran's imbalanced foreign relations.
Zarif, who negotiated the 2015 JCPOA nuclear accord with the United States, suggested that Iran should have its strongest ties with China like some 180 other countries in “the current post-western world,” when neither all important events take place in the West, nor it is the West that makes decisions on important developments of the world.
In a speech at the Iranian Society of Political Sciences in Tehran July 12, Zarif said that the end of the Cold War gave rise to the illusion of the emergence of a unipolar world order. "In fact, the years 1990 – 2008 were marked by the illusion of a unipolar world," he said.
The former foreign minister's speech came after a long silence, and it is not clear if the timing of his public appearance carries any particular meaning.
Zarif added that at the time, Russia had lost the Cold War, but the United States did not win it. "We are currently undergoing a period of transition," he said, adding that many politicians in Iran still have the mentality of the Cold War era and expect Russia to play the role it used to play. This is based on a wrong perception and this miscalculation can lead to our destruction.
"Today Russia cannot compete with other powers in any area. The reason why Russia attacked Ukraine was that it wanted other powers to negotiate with it," Zarif said, adding that "Today there is no permanent alliances between countries. Instead, they are replaced with temporary coalitions. Thinking of permanent alliances is a pitfall."
He argued that Iran wrongly thinks Russia can be its ally. Many were surprised when Russia did not veto UN Resolution 1929 against Iran, which set up a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations. “But I knew that they were not going to veto it,” Zarif said. However, he insisted: “I am not an anti-Russian person. I believe it is dangerous for Iran to be anti-Russian or anti-US. We should prioritize our national interests and then consider opposing US domination."
Zarif argued that perhaps no new dominating power will emerge. China's point of strength is the power of its trade and technology. He added that we are moving toward a global network rather than a bipolar or unipolar world.
Speaking about the nuclear talks, Zarif said the negotiation has always been a war of narratives between Iran and the United States which did not work well although both Iran and the US narratives were meant to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, former diplomat Jalal Sadatian also said in an interview on Saturday that "China and Russia simply perceive Iran as a friend and not as a strategic ally and regulate their ties with Tehran based on the same perception."
He observed that Iran unilaterally assumes that countries such as China and Russia are its strategic allies, but those countries do not have such a definition of their ties with Iran.
Sadatian, a former Iranian ambassador in the United Kingdom, said, "This explains why Russia and China sometimes take positions against Iran's territorial integrity. They regulate their relations with Iran based on their own national interests not based on illusions. Therefore, when they see relations with the Persian Gulf Arab states is more beneficial for their interests, they align with those countries rhetoric."
"This means, when they see they can win hefty contracts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates they tend to get closer to those countries regardless of our demands and interests," Sadatian explained.
Earlier in the week, in a joint Russia-GCC statement at the sixth joint ministerial meeting between the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council and the Russia, ministers affirmed their support for the United Arab Emirates demand over three Iranian islands.
He added that the third point in this respect is that "the Islamic Republic needs to strike a balance in its ties with East and West in order to benefit from its geopolitical potentials. Iran's constant anti-Western rhetoric will eventually weaken it."